January 2020 The Newsletter of the Cold River Chapter of the Adirondack Mountain Club Chapter Co-Chairs’ Report 2019-2020 CRC Executive Committee Greg Schaefer, Rose Cooper (Chapter Co-Chairs) Happy 2020 to our fellow Cold River Chapter Judy Thomson, Gail Gabriels (Outings Co-Chairs) members! We hope you have a safe and healthy Ken Shea (Director) New Year whether you are on the trail, water, or Harold Stackhouse (Alternate Director) adventuring on ice and snow. Greg shared the Ellen Schaefer, Rich Salz (Members-at-Large) following reflection at the CRC Holiday Party in Nancy Haggerty (Treasurer) December. We hope that you find some meaning Anne Bernat (Secretary) Ellen Collins (Membership Chair) in it as you adventure this year. Linda Hales (Newsletter Chair) Cheers! Greg and Rose A Gift As the unofficial family historian I was going through family records and I came across a journal written by my cousin Mary Schaefer, chronicling an adventure with other cousins into the High Peaks on December 20, 1959. Almost 60 years to the day. They went in fully prepared to camp for five days around Mt. Marcy in multiple feet of snow, 20 degree below weather, breaking trail, and testing “new” equipment. They were all 46ers then, and had spent months in the peaks. There are multiple anecdotes in the narrative of their successful climbs of Marcy, Skylight, Haystack and others. There are disappointments of problems with equipment failures (breaking snowshoe bindings and frozen batteries), but also the joys of carbide lamps that always worked and bluebird clear skies on the white rooftop of New York State. I can share this (and other eXploits) because a family member took the time to write these adventures down on paper and preserved them for another generation. Two of those four cousins are now gone, but their adventures live on. Essentially, the narratives are a gift to us, because we can look back and get a glimpse of their eXperience through their written word. The Adirondacks are changing. When my grandkids are my age and come to these mountains, the flora and fauna may very well be different. And Nature has a way of changing the landscape in a matter of hours or minutes. If you want to share a special gift this season, gather up or print some of the pics on your phone and label them. Write a narrative of some of your adventures. Share them with the next generation. I assure you, the next tech toy may be gone, but your written words are a gift that won’t be forgotten. 1 Director’s Report and Chapter News Director's Report Ken Shea 12/2019 1. ADK will be working with the Union for Forest Rangers to lobby for a statewide increase or 40 more forest rangers. 2. NCNST ( North Country National Scenic Trail) : To Adopt a section of the trail or help construct a new trail, contact : [email protected]. 3. The resolution to authorize use of Grow ADK Funds to close 2019 Budget Gap was passed. 4. ADK 2020 budget was passed by the ADK Board of Directors. 5. Michael Barrett ( New Executive Director) looks forward to visiting all chapters in the near future. 6. Next ADK Board Meeting: 3/28/2020. NPT News After the 46 High Peaks and all 30 fire towers, four CRC hikers were looking for a challenge. The Northville Placid Trail (NPT) seemed like a fun project. How difficult could it be? Heck, it is mostly flat right? During the summers of 2017,18 and 19 Jim and Kate Cronn, Gail Davis and Maria Erdo hiked the 138-mile NPT in 13 segments. The shortest outing was a mere 2.3 miles and the longest single day’s hike was a 17.1-mile monster on which Vickie Plumbley joined us. We learned a few hard lessons on that one, i.e. 17 miles in one day is way too far for senior hikers, and the NPT is not flat and easy. It undulated continuously with segments requiring fording some sort of water body every few minutes. We hiked a total of 151 miles including the access trails, reroutes and side trips. We were amazed at the diversity of flora we saw along the trail and won’t forget being awakened in the lean-to by loons calling. We had a great time on the trail, met some memorable hikers and enjoyed many dinners and legal beverages at the end of each outing as we rested our weary bodies. ~Jim Cronn Chloe, Gail, Maria, and Kate at the south NPT terminus in Northville (Jim was the photographer) 2 Where in the World? Appalachian Adventure By Barbara Kearns We’d thought about it, we talked about it, we even read the book about Grandma Gatewood’s walk back in the late 1950’s. Grandma Gatewood had re-ignited my own 1960’s ambition to do this 2,189.1-mile hike from Springer Mt. in Georgia to Katahdin in Maine. Life got busy, but now I had friends (Gail Gabriels, Marty Townley, Sue Atwell) to do as many sections as possible. It was our time to “walk the talk,” and we chose a 105-mile section of the Appalachian Trail through the Shenandoah National Park. Four friends and one husband filled the van with backpacks, day packs, sleeping bags, tents and labeled daily food packs, then took off for Front Royal Sunday, Sept 22, 2019. We had reservations for the updated slave quarters at Mountain Home B&B. Monday, Sept. 23: We four women started our Shenandoah Section of the Appalachian Trail with laminated photos of Grandma Gatewood, and two friends, who due to injuries had to back out. We brought photographs of them with us on our trek, so they could hike with us. The first day we stepped out assured and walked 14 or so miles from Chester Gap to Matthew’s Arm. Once into the schedule, we woke up daily at 5 AM in our lean-to, individual tent or even the one exceptional lodge room, to prepare hot water for our drink and a package of instant oatmeal enriched with some nuts and fruit chopped at home. Our day packs were filled with a couple liters of water, a peanut butter sandwich, and an energy bar or two that had been packed the night before and stored in the van ready for lunch. We left about 7 AM and usually found a luncheon ridge with an expansive view of blue mountains all the way to the horizon. The AT track is threaded back and forth about 20 times by the Skyline Highway for cars and motorcycles, intercepting our trail as we went up and down mountains from one “gap” to another. We had some very warm weather— reaching 94 degrees Sunday, but when we started out Monday the temperatures were in the comfortable 70’s, and most days it was in the mid 80’s. I commented that we had a catered trip as “the husband, Ken” even brought a screened tent to keep us from gnats during meals. While we walked to our next destination, Ken “scoped out” a tent site for the night and then picked us up at trailheads, as needed. One day he joined a “meet-up” hiking group. By 7:30 each night we were ready for bed, and I didn’t care whether the tent had slightly collapsed around my feet or not. It was just good to be outside with stars and katydids chirping me to sleep. Tuesday, Sept 24--Mathews Arm Campground and Wednesday, Sept 25--on to Big Meadows Campground: These were the big, full-pack days. We headed out on the 24th for Byrd’s Nest #3, 3 Where in the World? hopeful of finding the lean-to empty as there were only three authorized tent sites. This was a more rigorous and steeper climb with sharper stones. Trees talked to one another as they swayed and rubbed bark along the bear-poop-littered trail. Several caterpillar-types crawled along, and a “walking stick” made an appearance. Our final challenge was Mary’s Rock at 3500 ft. (That may not sound like much to folks in the Rockies, but when you start at a “Gap” baseline, it seems like quite an elevation change!) We were lucky to find a spring to filter additional water as some were dried up. A couple guys and a dog decided to sleep on the tent sites, so the lean-to was available for our group. Four Mennonite girls in their long dresses and sneakers stopped by our lean-to after they filtered their water, then continued on with a young woman leader. Wednesday, Sept 25--Big Meadows 14+ miles from 7 AM to 3 PM: The sky was bright red as we left Byrd’s Nest #3 at 7 AM, making one last visit to the compost privy and tossing woodchips over the contents. Not much talking occurred on the trail, as heads were down watching the boots ahead and the hard sharp stone shards. We seemed to be doing 20-25 min./mile. After a brief stop at Little Stony Man for a granola bar, we continued on to lunch under Stony Man’s shelving rock. This pleasant forest walk even produced a rabbit. The final mile led us to Big Meadow Lodge for the night. Four bedrooms! We dried out camping gear from a couple days ago, SHOWERED and put on CLEAN CLOTHES for dinner—a gift from Gail’s son complete with a decadent chocolate birthday cake! Thursday, Sept 26, 2019--18.3 miles in 8 ½ hours: We left at 7:10 and saw non-startled deer— easy day! Ken met us at South River Picnic area—no water there nor campers, which explained the gallon of water we saw left by a “Trail Angel.” Ken had met up with two girls we’d seen at last night’s lean-to, and he provided them with needed water.